If you still haven’t found the right camp experience for your child, it’s not too late! Here are a couple of possibilities, with space and financial aid still available. First, an overnight camp held on the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Closer to home, karate day camp in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood: Thousand Waves’ Camp Kokoro offers quality martial…
3 Ways CPS Could Bust Out of Its Budget Box
Increasingly, parents, community leaders and elected officials are calling for a massive rethink of school and district budgeting. Here are three ideas on the table.
Forget Bruno. We Need to Talk About Shakespeare.
If we assume, for the moment, that these concerns are genuine, we have a big problem. Forget Bruno—we really need to talk about William Shakespeare!
Stop Pretending Tweaking Selective Enrollment Will Get Kids Equity
Last night, I finally got around to watching the video Chicago Public Schools released back in March to explain its proposed options for changing how students are admitted to selective enrollment schools. Take a look for yourself: True to form, Chicago Public Schools wants us to think they are all about equity, when in fact they are, at best, barely…
Children Learn Through Play. Early Childhood Educators Need to Know How to Use Play in the Classroom
Children still need to engage in play because they are still using symbols to represent words, images, and ideas and their ability for abstract concepts isn’t yet developed. Play is where they put all of their learning together in ways their brains can understand.
CPS High School and Academic Cut Scores for the 2022-23 School Year
‘Tis the season once again for high school admissions in Chicago. The CPS Office of Access and Enrollment released High School Round 1 results on Friday, March 18. CPS recently announced that they have extended the Round 1 decision deadline to Monday, April 4 at 5 PM CT. CPS has announced upcoming changes to the selective enrollment admissions process for…
Hey School Adults, It’s Time to Retire “Perfect Attendance”
This hustle culture in school sets children up for an adult life that attaches value to productivity, and devalues rest and care. Such a culture—rooted in white supremacy—kills creativity and divergent thinking, precisely the skills our children need, growing up to a future that promises bigger, more complicated problems by the day.
This CPS Sub Will Be Keeping Her Masks On, And Hopes Others Will, Too
We’re all struggling with heightened anxiety these days. And for subs, the nature of our job is not conducive to relaxation. Simply being a substitute teacher in Chicago Public Schools is not a job for someone who relies on order and predictability. Most of the time you are expected to just jump in and get to work, making sure that 15 or 30 or 50 children somewhere between the ages of 4 and 21 have a relatively successful school day and learn something, and that nobody gets hurt or dies in the process.